


Convenient Love

by TheFunk



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Convenience Store, Choi Jongho is Whipped, Comfort, Confessions, Crushes, Hugs, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, M/M, Medical, Minor Injuries, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pre-Relationship, Pretty Kang Yeosang, Shy Kang Yeosang, Size Difference, Skateboarding, Skater Kang Yeosang, Soft Choi Jongho, Strength, Sweet, Teasing, Tenderness, Touchy-Feely, kind graphic depiction of injury if you're squeamish but it's not that bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23090434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFunk/pseuds/TheFunk
Summary: Jongho waits patiently every night for the pretty boy to come into his convenience store for a snack and if he's lucky, a conversation. One night though, the pretty boy is late and he needs Jongho's help.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang
Comments: 24
Kudos: 241





	Convenient Love

Working at a twenty-four-hour convenience store sucked. Okay, fine. It wasn’t so bad. He worked the late shift, so he had barely any customers, and it allowed Jongho plenty of time to work on his homework, which was a blessing. But the people who came into the shop at midnight were usually weird and gave Jongho the creeps. Well, except for one.

There was a boy who came in every night at 11:32, and he was the most beautiful boy Jongho had ever seen in his entire life. And he was friends with Seonghwa, so that was saying something. The boy had wavy light brown hair and wide eyes. He had a large pink birthmark beside one of them and it was so unique and pretty. Every night at 11:32, the boy came in and wandered through the aisles, but he always bought the same thing: a Coke and a home run ball snack. The boy always kept his gaze averted whenever Jongho spoke to him, as if shy from the attention. One time, Jongho had complimented his shirt and the boy had blushed a petal pink, his birthmark almost disappearing. It was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

Jongho doodled in the margins of his notebook, ignoring his physics notes for the time being. It was 11:20, almost time for the boy to arrive. He shifted in his chair and saw that they still had the home run ball snacks. The one time they had run out of them, the boy had pouted as he checked out, just a bottle of Coke in his hands.

After that Jongho made sure to check that their home run ball snack supply was always fully stocked. Not because of how sad the boy had looked, no Jongho was just good at his job, that was all.

The bell above the door rang and Jongho's head snapped up to see who was there. His entire body deflated when he caught sight of a middle-aged man with greasy hair prowling through the aisles. He glanced at the clock He still had another five minutes before the pretty boy came into the shop. He shook his head, not the pretty boy, just the boy. He'd accidentally let the nickname slip when talking to his friend San and the older boy hadn't let him live it down. It'd been nearly a week.

It wasn't a crush like San had insisted. The boy was just pretty. And sweet, and blushed red when he was shy, and had a surprisingly deep voice when he actually spoke, and Jongho was sure he could lift the tiny boy with only one hand. So what if he was basically Jongho's ideal type. That didn't mean anything. He didn't have a crush. Honestly. He didn't even know the boy's name.

"Are you going to check me out or what?" the man asked.

"Sorry sir," Jongho scrunched his nose at the six-pack of beer the man was buying but rang him up anyways. His job was to sell things to people, not judge what they buy.

The man left with a single ring of the bell and Jongho was left in silence once again. He checked the clock again. Only two minutes left. He adjusted himself on his rickety stool and held his breath as it creaked and shook beneath him. It was a dangerous stool. The boy who worked the shift right before him had fallen off it two weeks ago and had almost bruised his tailbone. It was going to kill one of them one day, and their boss still wouldn't buy a new one.

He straightened up and mussed up his hair, the way Seonghwa hyung always said looked handsome on him. The uniform was garish, but he was working with what he had.

He checked the clock again. The boy was about two minutes late Jongho frowned. The boy was practically never late. The one time he had been, it was because the strap of his backpack had broken, and his things had all fallen out and he'd had to stop and pick it all up. But that had only made him five minutes late. And now, it was nearly ten minutes past the boy's usual time. Jongho fidgeted on his stool. This was really throwing off his routine It's not like he was worried or anything.

The door opened with a ring of the bell and Jongho straightened up at the sound. The boy walked in with his head down. Jongho smiled.

"Hello," he called out.

The boy looked at him and smiled at him, "Hello," before he began to limp down the aisles, skateboard dragging slowly behind him.

Jongho jumped down from his stool, "Are you okay?"

The boy stopped, "Yeah I just, I wiped out earlier and I think I'm bleeding. Where do you keep your band-aids?"

Jongho walked around the counter, "Don't worry about it, I have a first aid kit in the back. Will you let me see?"

The boy hesitated, then he nodded. He leaned down to roll up his pant leg but winced. Jongho held out his hands to stop the boy who was so clearly in pain.

"Let me, please," Jongho said.

He waited until the boy nodded. He went to kneel down to help, but he paused. He snuck a look at the stool, then gripped the boy by the waist and lifted him onto the counter. The boy gasped, hands scrambling to grip onto Jongho's shoulders. They looked at each other, the boy’s eyes were wide and there was a light pink dusting across his cheeks.

"S-sorry," Jongho said.

He could’ve hit himself. What kind of person just manhandles someone like that? The boy was probably scared shitless of him. He'd probably ruined everything, all before he even knew his name.

"It's okay. You're really strong um," the boy trailed off.

"Jongho," Jongho said.

The boy smiled, his cheeks an even deeper pink than before, "I'm Yeosang."

Yeosang. His name is Yeosang. It was pretty and so is Yeosang. Yeosang is pretty and petite and his hands still rest on Jongho's shoulders. They are warm and one of his thumbs rubs against his shoulders, and it eases his jitters.

"Hi Yeosang, let me go get the first aid kit."

Yeosang smiled at him and his hands drop from Jongho's shoulders. Jongho heads to the back office, rummaging around for a bit before he finds what he's looking for. He'd only used the first aid kit when he'd accidentally cut himself opening a box, but he knew how to use everything inside. On his way back he stopped to grab a package of home run ball snacks, and a bottle of Coke. He already knew what Yeosang wanted, and if his leg was hurt, he didn't want Yeosang to have to go walk and get it.

Yeosang's face lit up when he saw the snacks in Jongho's hands, "For me?"

"Of course, here," Jongho handed Yeosang the snacks, "I'm going to lift up your pant leg now."

Jongho grabbed the bottom of his pant leg and began to roll it up. Yeosang’s hands returned to Jongho’s shoulder with a squeeze as the other boy winced above him. Jongho paused in his movements and looked up.

“Sorry,” Yeosang murmured, “keep going. I’m okay.”

Jongho nodded and continued. He frowned. He had noticed that the shin area of Yeosang’s jeans had looked damp, but he had hoped that he had just fallen into a puddle. Instead, the entirety of Yeosang’s left shin looked like one giant scrape. Parts of it were bleeding and the parts that weren’t were oozing with thick plasma. His leg was rubbed raw and it made his own leg ache. He grabbed the rubbing alcohol and the cotton balls from the kit.

“This is going to sting,” Jongho said.

He poured the alcohol onto a cotton ball and began to dab at the wound. Yeosang whimpered and gripped tight to Jongho’s shoulders. Jongho reached up and gripped Yeosang’s hand, rubbing his thumb along the back of it.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. I’m almost done,” Jongho promised.

He continued to clean Yeosang’s leg, only using one hand now. Every time Yeosang would wince, Jongho would squeeze his hand. He didn’t like the way the pained noises would leave Yeosang’s mouth. Yeosang’s mouth was meant to let out giggles and shy words, not whimpers of pain. Het set the used cotton balls on the counter.

“Okay, that’s it. I just have to wrap it now. It’s all scraped up and it’s too big for a band-aid,” Jongho said.

Jongho grabbed the gauze and began to wrap it around Yeosang’s leg. He tried to keep his touches light, but he also needed the gauze to be tight if it was going to help. With every pull of the gauze, Yeosang would yelp. Jongho would wince every time he did, and he let out a sigh of relief when he finally taped the gauze down and finished. He rolled Yeosang’s pant leg down gingerly. He caressed Yeosang’s ankle as he stood.

“There you go,” he said, and finally looked up at Yeosang.

Yeosang’s face was blood red. He placed the back of his hand on Yeosang’s forehead. He was radiating heat. Jongho frowned.

“Are you okay?” he asked, “Are you feeling sick?”

“No, no, it’s just… you make me nervous,” Yeosang murmured.

“I’m so sorry.” Jongho removed his hand from Yeosang’s forehead, but the other boy snatched his hand back.

Yeosang laced their fingers together and held their hands near his chest, “No! you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just, you’re very handsome and very nice to me, and it makes me nervous.”

Jongho froze. Yeosang thought he was handsome? And it made him… nervous?

“I make you nervous? How? You’re like, the prettiest person I’ve ever seen in my life, I’m like, terrified I’m going to say something stupid every time you walk in.”

Yeosang giggled, “Really?”

“Yeah, it’s actually really embarrassing.”

“Well, I think it’s sweet.”

“Yeah?” Jongho asked.

Yeosang nodded, “And kinda cute too.”

Jongho blushed and rested his head on Yeosang’s chest, “You can’t say that to me, I’ll get shy.”

Yeosang placed two fingers underneath Jongho’s chin and lifted it so they were making eye contact. Yeosang’s cheeks were flushed pink but he was smiling, which was much better than the grimace his lips had been twisted into earlier.

“You’re so cute,” Yeosang said.

Jongho shook his head. It was just ridiculous. The boy he saw every night, the prettiest boy in the world who he did _not_ have a crush on, thought he was cute. Jongho who was so plain looking he almost didn’t have any facial features. Jongho who was blank-faced and serious at all times, and only had his strength on his side. Yeosang thought he was cute. Ridiculous.

“Thank you for helping me,” Yeosang said, gesturing at his leg.

Yeosang let go of Jongho’s hand and Jongho ached to reach out and grab it again. Yeosang draped his arms across Jongho’s shoulders. He scooted forward on the counter and Jongho nearly choked when Yeosang collapsed onto him. His breath was hot on Jongho’s neck and Jongho gripped Yeosang’s waist tight. It was tiny in his grasp and squished slightly and pleasantly. Yeosang’s waist fit perfectly in his hands.

“I need to leave,” Yeosang whispered, yet he stayed pressed against Jongho.

Jongho hummed and squeezed Yeosang’s waist again. Yeosang’s breath shuddered in his ear.

“My roommate will freak out if I’m not home soon,” Yeosang continued.

Jongho hummed again and Yeosang giggled above him.

“I don’t want to leave either, but if I don’t, I’ll be tempted to stay all night.”

Jongho smiled, “I’d be okay with that.”

Yeosang giggled again and pulled away from Jongho, though his arms stayed draped on Jongho’s shoulders, “Yeah? You think I’m that cute? I’m starting to think you have a crush on me.”

Jongho flushed and squeezed Yeosang’s waist, “Quiet you.”

He lifted Yeosang from the counter and set him gently on his feet. Yeosang tested his weight on his left leg, arms still on Jongho’s shoulders.

“Go home and get some rest, your leg will feel a lot better in the morning,” Jongho said.

Yeosang pouted, “But I wanted to stay.”

Jongho’s heart clenched. People weren’t allowed to be that cute, that sweet. Yeosang was breaking some kind of law against being the human embodiment of an angel, Jongho was sure of it.

“Your roommate will get worried. Besides, you’ll see me tomorrow, right?” Jongho asked.

Yeosang leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Jongho’s cheek. His lips were soft and warm against Jongho’s skin and he could feel himself melting. Yeosang pulled away slowly, his arms falling from Jongho’s shoulders, fingers brushing down his chest as he did so. Jongho took his hands off of Yeosang’s waist and he already missed the warmth. Yeosang picked up his skateboard.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Yeosang said.

Jongho handed him his Coke and his home run ball, and Yeosang giggled at the sight of them.

“Get home safe,” Jongho said.

Yeosang nodded, his shy smile back on his face. Jongho watched him walk away, his heart pounding in his chest. Yeosang was only halfway out the door when he turned and blew a kiss at Jongho. Jongho pretended to catch it and put it in his pocket. Yeosang giggled and left the store, bell ringing behind him.

Jongho trudged behind his counter and sat on his wobbly stool with a sigh. San was wrong. This wasn’t a crush, no, this was love.

**Author's Note:**

> I love JongSang and I always want to read more of it, so I thought I'd help fill the tag. This was fun to write and I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know with a kudos or a comment!


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